Sometimes a bar mistake can be a beautiful thing
A little imagination and a willingness to experiment can transform a potential
disaster into a culinary triumph. Need proof? How about famous “oops” moments such
as chocolate-chip cookies, ice-cream cones, and the microwave? And plenty of
classic cocktails were purportedly created when bartenders ran out of specific
ingredients and made heat-of-the-moment substitutions. The mark of a seasoned
beverage professional is the ability to think creatively and use slip-ups to
his or her advantage. Risky, sure, but sometimes downright fantastic.
A faulty soda machine was the inspiration for the Broken
Machine ($10.50) at the Beehive (541
Tremont Street, Boston, 617.423.0069). Legend has it that a server went to fill
a glass with Coke and got nothing but syrup out of the fountain. Quick-thinking
bartenders added the syrup to dark rum, topped it with ginger beer, and voilà —
enter a twist on a classic that kicks it up with spicy panache. It’s a great
gateway cocktail for people who love rum and Cokes and Dark and Stormys but are
looking for a change.
Highland Kitchen
(150 Highland Avenue, Somerville, 617.625.1131) took advantage of a similar
situation. The restaurant got a shipment of bottles of root beer, which all
turned out to be flat, says bar manager Joe McGuirk. Rather than return them to
the distributor, the cocktail magicians at Highland Kitchen decided to play
around, boiling the soda down to a syrup and blending it with various boozes
before settling on rum. The result is the “House Boat” ($7.50), a snappy little
concoction of Sailor Jerry spiced rum and a root-beer syrup made with allspice
and cloves. It’s a refreshing cocktail with robust undertones that pairs nicely
with food.
Over at banQ
(1375 Washington Street, Boston, 617.451.0077), the swooping, innovative décor
was no accident, but the Cha-Ching ($8), a mix of plum wine and lychee liqueur,
resulted from an over-abundance of the former. “For some reason, we ended up
getting a case shipped to us, and we didn’t know what to do with it,” says
beverage director Jay Leo. “So we played around with it. We wanted to keep it
simple. With cocktails, after the third or so ingredient, there are too many
things going on.” BanQ’s cocktail list is a reflection of the restaurant’s
Asian-fusion sensibilities, so Leo decided to marry the wine with lychee,
another classic Asian flavor. Even with this simple foundation, the Cha-Ching
is a sophisticated cocktail, bright and flowery with a hint of that sweet
lychee earthiness.
Though it wasn’t so much an accident as an experiment,
banQ’s Hot Mess ($11) — a pale golden elixir of grapefruit vodka, white
cranberry juice, and spicy sambal paste, flecked with toasted coconut — is so
delightfully bizarre that it’s worth a mention. Bartender Jessamyn Ganji
created it while experimenting with spicy Southeast Asian flavors. “She
probably named it after herself,” Leo laughs. “She is a hot mess.” Ironically,
the ingredients work beautifully together; the drink tastes like a fired-up
fruit punch that leaves lips feeling like they’ve just been exfoliated with
coarsely ground pepper.
Though Rialto
(Charles Hotel, One Bennett Street, Cambridge, 617.661.5050) is best known for
chef Jody Adams’s nationally recognized cuisine, it’s also becoming a magnet
for Cambridge cocktail mavens who love the refined intimacy of its bar.
Beverage director Kelly Coggins gives his bartenders creative license. “It’s
really important for people here to have an artistic outlet,” he says. “For me,
it’s the wine list. For our bartenders, it’s the cocktails.” Cocktails such as
the Killer Bees ($11), an accidental twist on the classic Bees Knees cocktail,
made with honey, gin, and lemon juice. Bartender Jonathan Stoeckle, a rum
aficionado, wanted to update the drink by making it with rum but couldn’t get
the taste he wanted; plus, the honey kept coating his tongue. The
drink-in-progress went through many iterations: white rum with honey and lemon;
gold rum with honey and lemon; different gins; different sweeteners. Before
scrapping the whole thing, Stoeckle randomly gave agave syrup a whirl, and it
was a non-sticky hit. The Killer Bees, made with Hendrick’s gin, fresh lime
juice, agave, and a float of Tuaca, also gets a sweet? and-sour twist as the
Beesting ($11), topped with Campari instead of Tuaca.
Plenty of happy accidents are also bound to happen if you
order the weekly Classic Cocktail Creation ($13), which allows Rialto
bartenders to whip up a drink on a whim. Every once in a while, magic will
happen and a random invention will make it onto Rialto’s cocktail menu. And
they’re happy to cater to a customer’s palate, as they did with the Polaris
($13), featuring Martin Miller’s gin, St. Germain liqueur, fresh lemon, and grapefruit
juice. A regular customer had a hankering for something with St. Germain and
gin, so her bartender “started pouring things into a shaker until it worked,”
Stoeckle says. The resulting drink is light and tart, a bit flowery, and
delicious.
Obviously, you can’t always turn lemons into (boozy)
lemonade, but kudos to the bartenders who don’t let screw-ups get in the way of
creating new and exciting drinks. Here’s to more over-ordering, broken beverage
equipment, and serendipitous mixing.
